Sinn Fein should be banished after new financial sanctions are imposed for the £26.5m Northern Bank heist, unionists said today.

The Government is expected to slap cash fines on the republican party, based on a paramilitary watchdog's damning assessment that the IRA was behind the raid. Democratic Unionist MP Nigel Dodds demanded the Government exclude Sinn Fein from any future attempt to revive the Stormont power-sharing arrangements.

Jet landing drama

AN INQUIRY was launched today after a Tornado bomber burst into flames after it was forced to land at 180mph on just one set of wheels. The incident yesterday left the two-man crew of the aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth shaken but uninjured.

Asylum figures

LATEST figures on the number of asylum seekers coming to Britain were being published by the Government today. Data covering the three months from September to December last year will be issued by the Home Office.

Man is quizzed

A MAN was arrested today after the body of an elderly man was found in a house. Police and an ambulance crew were called to the house at Ballymoney, Co Antrim, in Northern Ireland, last night.

Gum summit

BRITAIN'S leading cities will call today for a penny-a-packet chewing gum tax to help councils meet the annual £150m clean-up cost. Representatives from Westminster, Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh will call for new action to tackle the scourge at the first national "gum summit".

Tip collapse search

RESCUERS today continued digging through mountains of debris after a rubbish tip collapsed, killing 33 people in central Indonesia, with at least 70 others still missing and feared dead. The massive rubbish and mud slide early yesterday was reportedly caused by torrential rains.

Abusepaneltoretire

A PANEL of military officers trying two British soldiers accused of abusing Iraqi prisoners was expected to retire to consider its verdicts today. The soldiers, from the 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, are accused of mistreating captured looters at Camp Bread Basket, in Basra, in May 2003.

Police quiz three

POLICE are questioning three people today in connection with the murder of Iris Jones, 78, and her adopted daughter Mandy Joseph, 34, at their isolated home in Hockliffe, Bedfordshire, on Sunday. Police refused to confirm or deny reports that they had been shot. Two men and a woman were arrested yesterday in connection with the incident.